3-Alarm Fire Destroys South City Building

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – An intense overnight blaze guts a South St. Louis building. The fire went to three alarms and at one point, there were 16 units and around 60 firefighters at the scene on Papin near Choteau.

The fire broke out at the one story building around 11:15pm Wednesday night. The building is vacant. It is attached to a five story building which is also vacant. But a Google search shows the five story building has some history.

It apparently dates all the way back to 1889 and used to be the St. Mary`s Infirmary.That search also shows it was halfway house and a detox center.There are a series of buildings here in the area.

But the main fire damage appears to have been contained to the one story building— not the historic five story structure.Investigators say the blaze went to three alarms because of concern that the flames could have spread to those other buildings.Fortunately, that didn`t happen. There were no injuries reported and a cause is still under investigation.